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Two Muslim militants in the southern Lahj province shoot dead a 20-year-old man for being a homosexual, flee on their motorbike[edit]

Two militants from an Al-Qaeda linked group shot dead a Yemeni man in the southern Lahj province, accusing him of being a homosexual, a police source said on Tuesday.

The attackers from the Ansar al-Sharia group, which is on the US terror list, opened fire at 20-year-old Hashem al-Asmi late Monday in the provincial capital of Huj, the source told AFP, adding that the gunmen fled on their motorbike after killing Asmi.

The attackers who "accused the man of being gay... belong to Ansar al-Shariah," the source said on condition of anonymity.

Ansar al-Sharia is the local branch of Al-Qaeda in Yemen where the network, although weakened, is still active mainly in the southern and eastern parts of the country.

Al-Qaeda loyalists seized large swathes of Yemen's south and east in 2011, taking advantage of a decline in central government control during an 11-month uprising that forced veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh from power...

Muslim militants belonging to Ansar Al Sharia are responsible for the killings of 34 homosexual men in the country. LGBT rights group states homosexual sex is banned and homosexuality attracts the death penalty[edit]

Militants from the Al-Qaida linked Ansar Al Sharia islamist group have shot dead a 20-year-old they suspected of being gay in the Yemeni province of Lahj – though there is confusion over whether homosexuality is still a crime in the country.

Hashim Al Asmi was shot dead on Monday night by militants who then escaped on a motorbike.

Officials told the Washinton Post there had been 33 other gay men killed by the militant group.

Ansar Al Sharia is considered the main Al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen and is on the US’ formal list of banned terror organizations.

The Washington Post has claimed that homosexuality is not a crime in Yemeni law, but LGBT rights group ILGA states that sex between people of the same-sex is banned for both men and women, with homosexuality attracting the death penalty.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pilay condemned the country as recently as December 2011 and called on it to end the death penalty for homosexuality...

25-year-old man accused of being homosexual is shot and wounded in front of his home, only days after the killing of another homosexual man[edit]

Mohammed Saeed, 25, was standing outside his home in Huta the capital of the southern Lahj province when a gunman shot and wounded him, the official said.

Late Monday, two militants from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Ansar al-Sharia group, which is on the US terror list, shot dead 20-year-old Hashem al-Asmi, also in Huta, also for allegedly being "gay".

Ansar al-Sharia is the local branch of Al-Qaeda in Yemen where the network, although weakened, is still active mainly in the southern and eastern parts of the country.

On Friday suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen killed a member of the pro-army militia in a drive-by shooting in the town of Mudia, in the southern Abyan province, a police official said.

Mohammed Abbad was a member of the Popular Resistance Committees which had helped the army launch a month-long offensive in May last year against Al-Qaeda militants in Abyan.

The army, also backed by US drone attacks, managed to retake control of the country's south, of which large swathes of land had been seized by Al-Qaeda militants.

Although weakened the network still carries out hit-and-run attacks against army and police targets and occasionally assassinates members and leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees.

During their control of areas in south Yemen, the Islamist militants imposed a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) on residents, executing or lashing those they accused of various crimes. Those accused of theft had their hands severed...

Muslim militants on a motorbike open fire in a market in Huta, killing a 29-year-old man they believed was a homosexual[edit]

"Armed Al-Qaeda suspects on a motorbike opened fire on 29-year-old Salem Ahmed Hasan in a market in Huta," capital of the southern province of Lahj, the official said, adding the man died immediately.

He said the man was targeted because the attackers thought he was a homosexual.

Another four men have been killed in similar attacks on supposedly "gay" men in Huta this year.

The latest such attack was in July when suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen shot and wounded a man only days after they killed another in similar circumstances.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen is active mainly in the southern and eastern parts of the country.. . .During their control of areas in southern Yemen, the Islamist militants imposed a strict version of Islamic law on residents, executing or lashing those they accused of various crimes. Those accused of theft had their hands severed.